Bob Peters Forecast

A slow-moving cold front brought a couple of bands of showers and thunderstorms to East Texas overnight and Friday, along with much cooler temperatures in the rain-cooled air behind the boundary.

The first band of thunderstorms was confined to the area along and north of IH-30 Thursday evening. Rains of an inch or more were common in the northeast corner of the state.

A thunderstorm which moved through Bowie County around 8 p.m. approached severe limits with gusty winds and small hail.

The second band of showers crossed Red River about 4 a.m., brought widespread and mostly light rainfall north of IH-20, weakened, and the re-intensified just after dawn.

This one reached Tyler around 10 a.m., and brought rain for the next two hours, leaving 0.57 inch in the city and 0.46 inch at the airport.

It continued moving southward, bringing widespread showers and thunderstorms to the southern counties. Temperatures over the south fell from the middle 90s around 1 p.m. into the high 70s to middle 80s by mid-afternoon.

Areal coverage with Friday's rain was about 60 percent, and amounts were generally around one-half inch. At least three upper air disturbances, dropping southeastward in the northwest wind flow aloft, aided the cold front in the generation of the needed rainfall.

Friday's temperatures averaged about 10 degrees below Thursday's, and about 6 degrees below normal. Near normal temperatures are likely Saturday and Sunday.

Low temperatures Friday morning were in the 70s, with slightly cooler readings likely Saturday, and warmer temperatures for Sunday and Monday.

Afternoon high readings were from the lower 80s in the central counties to the middle 90s in the south. These were lower than on Thursday. 90-degree high temperatures are likely Saturday through Monday.

Winds were light and southerly overnight, and became northeasterly to easterly at 5-10 mph behind the cold front. Winds should shift back into the south on Saturday as the front dissipates, and increase into the 10-15 mph range late Sunday and Monday ahead of the next front due through the region on Monday.

Skies were fair Thursday evening, mostly cloudy to cloudy through early-afternoon, and then partly cloudy as the second band of thunderstorms moved southeastward away from Tyler.

Tyler's highest sustaining wind Friday was easterly at 15 mph with a peak gust of 18 mph, and an average velocity of 6.7 mph. Thursday's average wind velocity was 6.3 mph.

Friday's average relative humidity was 78 percent, with lower values likely Saturday through Monday. Thursday's average was 64 percent.